If you are drinking supposedly decaffeinated coffee and are feeling jittery as a result, you may … More
When you get decaffeinated coffee, you kind of want it to be, you know, without caffeine. But apparently this wasn’t the case with certain batches of Our Family Traverse City Ground Coffee, according to a report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They were mislabeled as decaffeinated when they actually had caffeine. As a result, the parent company, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA, has issued a voluntary coffee recall of the product starting March 13.
Coffee Recall Encompasses 692 Cases Of The Product
The full name of the product being recalled is Our Family’s Traverse City Cherry-Flavored Decaf Light Roast Ground Coffee. The batches affected come in 12-ounce bags and bear best-buy dates of Aug. 8, 2025. The recall has encompassed 692 cases of the product that went to the following 15 states: Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. So if you bought this coffee in any of these states and are feeling a little or a lot jittery, you may want to check the package.
Our Family, meaning the company, has issued a statement that said, “We are committed to your health and safety, and we follow best practices to ensure the quality and safety of the products we sell.” The statement continued with, “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Coffee Recall Is Considered Class II By The FDA
This is “Category II” recall, according to the FDA, because it is “a situation in which use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences.” That’s because getting caffeine in something that was supposed to be decaffeinated is not like finding a curly fry in your order of regular fries. It is typically not a pleasant welcome surprise.
Anyone who uses coffee to help them stay awake should realize that caffeine is a stimulant. It is a chemical that naturally exists in coffee beans, tea leaves, cacao beans, guarana berries and yerba mate leaves. One can synthesize caffeine artificially as well.
Naturally, doctors will rarely say, “Have as much stimulants as you want.” Typically, you want to keep your daily caffeine intake below 400 milligrams a day, as I have detailed previously in Forbes. That limit is not too difficult to reach because one cup of regular coffee typically will have between 100 and 200 milligrams of caffeine.
Coffee Recall Is Due To The Potential Effects Of Caffeine
One risk of caffeine is the aforementioned jitters, nervousness or anxiety. By blocking the effects of adenosine, a chemical in your body that makes you feel sleepy, caffeine will do the opposite. This may be helpful in some situations, like when you are falling asleep during a job interview or trying to sit through the 2017 movie The Snowman. But it can problematic when you are trying to relax.
One such situation is when you are trying to fall asleep. Caffeine can also reduce the levels of melatonin in your body, further altering your sleep patterns. This is why you don’t typically say, “I’ll be in bed as soon as I drink this mug of caffeinated coffee.”
Another risk is dehydration, which, in turn, can lead to all sorts of issues ranging from headaches to dizziness to lightheadedness to losing consciousness. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning that it can make you pee and pee and pee. that’s one of the reasons why you don’t see marathon runners being served cups of coffee. Even though it’s a fluid, the caffeine will prompt you to urinate more. Therefore, when you ingest a lot of caffeine, it’s a good idea to drink more water to compensate.
Caffeine can also affect your gastrointestinal tract in different ways. For example, it can increase the amount of acid that your stomach secretes. This can lead to or worsen gastroesophageal reflux or GERD, which is the medical term for heartburn. It can also increase the motility of your intestines. This doesn’t mean that you should try coffee enemas. Yes, that’s right, some folks have been pushing putting coffee where the sun dont’ shine. I have questioned whether this is a bright idea previously in Forbes.
Additionally, caffeine can increase your heart rate. This could be problematic if you have some kind of pre-existing heart condition. It also can temporarily raise your blood pressure, which may be OK if you are otherwise healthy but could be a problem if you already have other medical conditions that require your blood pressure to be in a certain range.
Finally, caffeine can be addictive. You may be addicted to caffeine if you not getting it leads to headaches, fatigue, irritability, drowsiness and other withdrawal symptoms. So if you are trying to quit consuming caffeine, you may not appreciate it if supposed decaf coffee actually has caffeine.
So, if you want to make sure that you are drinking decaf coffee, again check your package, meaning the package in which the coffee came. Make sure that it is not part of this coffee recall. Otherwise, you may have some trouble brewing.
